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Blockbuster closing remaining stores—but job losses go unmentioned

In a move that left more than one Twitter user asking, “Blockbuster still had stores?” the company that took over the brand in 2011, Dish Network, announced Wednesday that all 300 remaining Blockbuster Video stores in the United States will close.

The distribution centers for Blockbuster’s DVD-by-mail business are also shutting down. That service will end by mid-December.

In a Dish press release, the company’s president and CEO, Joseph P. Clayton, explained that the Blockbuster brand isn’t totally dead, however:

This is not an easy decision, yet consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment. Despite our closing of the physical distribution elements of the business, we continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand, and we expect to leverage that brand as we continue to expand our digital offerings.

A section of the release labeled “Blockbuster’s future” explains more about Dish’s plans to continue Blockbuster’s video streaming services. The release mentions nothing about the number of employees who will lose their jobs as a result of the store and distribution center closings.

According to the website Career Purgatory, Blockbuster had about 9,000 full-time employees and 21,000 part-time employees in 2010, when the company filed for bankruptcy.

In January, Dish closed 300 Blockbuster stores, resulting in about 3,000 job losses, according to the Denver Post.

Anyone hoping to find out more about Tuesday’s announcement won’t find anything on the newsroom page on Blockbuster’s website. The link leads to a “page cannot be found” error.